They say the love of the earth runs through the blood, and that is certainly the case for Harold "Hal" Page, who has been the owner and operator of Page's Lawn Service since 1986. His passion for preserving the beauty of the earth began when he was growing up in Redding, CT. His mother, Mary, showed him how to nurture seeds into flowers and how to sense what the land needed to reach its full potential. "She was my inspiration," says Hal.

Mary credited her passion from her grandfather, Harry B. Iles, who was the superintendent, caretaker, and landscape gardener at the estate of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (better known by his pen name, Mark Twain). Clemens wrote in 1908 about his sprawling 200-acre Redding, CT estate, Stormfield: "It is charmingly quiet here. The house stands alone, with nothing in sight but woodsy hills and rolling country.” Hal's mother recounted stories to Hal of her grandfather's days at Stormfield, tending the grounds and even going by horse and buggy to pick up Twain at the West Redding Train Station. A seed was planted.

Hal's entrepreneurial spirit developed early. By the age of 12, Hal was mowing lawns for his Redding neighbors and offering advice on where to plant shrubs and flowers. And he has been helping thousands of customers ever since. Great-grandpa Harry would surely be proud.